The following text is quoted from a player on one of a few PvP-focused EVE Discords which I lurk in, which I think summarizes the feelings of a wide slice of EVE’s playerbase:
Fisk Hrin Hakuli: I think what most of this server actually wants, is a null that isn’t held largely by 3 groups - most of us think that the fact that PH holds the insane amount of regions that they do is incredibly bad for the game, and not just for us, but for the null holders that want to go and PvP. It also essentially blocks smaller groups from being independently living in null, especially close to these big null holders. I personally think that a lot of the issues that we complain about would also be fixed, and it would generally be much healthier for null, which is why there is such a big uproar over skyhook changes and ansi changes - we thought that if we interacted with the skyhooks in the gangs we normally play in, along with the ansi nerfs that were introduced at the start of equinox would be enough for the big players to give up a decent amount of sov for other groups to step in and use that space to a much greater degree than they were. I’m saying this all to say, does CCP and the CSM agree at all with us? Do you guys think that the current state of null is where you want it, or do you want much more medium sized independent alliances holding sov and using it actively? Because that’s all I think most people on this server want, at the end of the day.
For two years I have been on a long campaign to try to illustrate the needed mechanics which would support the goals in the above quote – largely focused on the much maligned “passive income” that EVE’s original map game was built on. This may sound odd, as I principally represent one of the large blocs: full of krab power, the Imperium is not the group that requires this type of gameplay to be available. But it is true, and consistent with Goonswarm’s policy dating back at least 15 years: we are not here to ruin THE game – only YOUR game.
And I really want THE game to last for another few decades, without suffering from the cycle of stagnancy that has always afflicted it.
The mechanics required to actually achieve this, though, are counterintuitive at best, and we aren’t there yet. But the launch of the Equinox expansion has provided a framework where this is actually possible in nullsec – where before, it simply was not. Why? Well, before Equinox, there was essentially no map – with the exception of truesec, any given nullsec system was essentially the same as any other. In this environment, it is impossible to provide real rewards simply for conquering a star system – there’s no way of deciding how much reward any given system should be worth! This is also the exact same reason why Dominion-era ihubs could simply install any upgrade – there was no way to limit them or decide “how much” any given system could do. Whoops.
Equinox fixes this, by providing a matrix of resources upon which sov nullsec operates. Many mistakes have been made along the way, but this ultimately should be everyone’s goal: If Equinox can also support a full-on Conqueror playstyle over time, it will force open a path by which the big blocs can be meaningfully threatened, made to suffer for ignoring their borders, and their best PvPers even baited into striking out on their own, and subsequently rewarded for doing it.
Below is some additional text which derives this conclusion out of the mathematical principles which undergird EVE’s gameplay, as well as an explanation of the way in which these mechanics directly threaten the models of the principal blocs:
Kazanir: the way to get real deblocification is to reward them [the victors of a contest over space] much, much harder, and without the requirement to krab
Lord Omega: I have to think about it a bit
Lord Omega: But this is a very intriguing idea
Lord Omega: Haven’t heard this perspective before
Kazanir: I can do the math right here if you like
Lord Omega: I would appreciate it if you did
Kazanir: it’s a few simple axioms and a bit of set theory
Kazanir:
- EVE is a virtuality which attempts to simulate human motivation in sufficiently detailed resolution to deserve that name.
- Fundamentally, players are all agents who can interact with one another or a variety of static elements (“celestials”) in space.
- There are two atomic types of player activity:
3a. PvE: Exploit a celestial for its resources
3b. PvP: Some type of contest with other players- These two atomic types can be combined into a third (“molecular”) type, which we call Capture: the capture of space projects both PvE and PvP across the arrow of time until some future time…
4a. By limiting the celestial resource to the owner until the future time
4b. And inviting the remaining players to a PvP contest at that future time- Critical axiom: all players are required to PvP – there is no instanced content, and even though rulesets vary, ultimately all resources are under some type of contested pressure from the rest of the playerbase.
Kazanir: now we do a Venn diagram and, given #5, it is obvious that there are only 3 valid combinations:
Must PvP – Will PvE – Will Capture space: SETTLER
Must PvP – Won’t PvE – Will Capture space: CONQUEROR
Must PvP – Will PvE – Won’t Capture space: RAIDER
Kazanir: Settler, Conqueror, Raider
Kazanir: the first two are the ones who will capture space themselves, and therefore I call them the yin and yang, or saidar and saidin, of nullsec
Kazanir: the lesson is that EVE must support mechanics for all 3 of these super-archetypes, or ultimately some type of stagnant Nash equilibrium will be found, and indeed – because Team Conqueror has never had a proper fully-fledged set of mechanics that covered all of the conquerable map – EVE has eventually always reached a stagnant point of this type
Kazanir: but it doesn’t have to be that way – Conqueror could be strengthened to full power so that those who are better at PvP can actually be rewarded for it without needing to compete in krab-hours
Kazanir: I can explain a different way. the 2 largest blocs have different strategic doctrines – “renting” and “floodplains” by name
Kazanir: you need to threaten them both to win your desired victory of de-blocification
Kazanir: conquest-based “passive” income is a sword aimed directly at the heart of each
Kazanir: it penalizes the floodplains people by saying, “actually, losing your floodplain for a few weeks resulted in the victor making a ton of money, even if you weren’t farming that region very well with your krabs”
Kazanir: and it provides everyone with a lesser substitute for having a rental operation – you can make money from the celestial without renting at all, you can just do it
Hope you enjoyed reading. I will be hitting the various EVE media to talk more about these ideas throughout the campaign, but if you made it all the way through this post, I am happy to also answer questions here.
